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Deep water is scary. Deep water causes us to fear the unknown. Jesus wants us to go into the deep water because there we are no longer independent and we are scared of drowning. If something happens in the deep water, we can not take credit for it. In the deep water we are dependent on God. When we see someone come to know Christ or something miraculous happens, it has nothing to do with what we did but what God did through us and we can not take anything from that. All praise and honor and glory goes to God because of what He did by telling us to go into the deep water. We need to spread the gospel to every corner of the earth like a wildfire that eats everything in its path and cannot die.

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Evangelism is part of what makes us a disciple. We do it out of obedience. We do it because we have a hunger for God and a desire for the Word of God. We do it because we have a passion that burns to see lost people saved. WE DO IT BECAUSE GOD SAYS TO DO IT!

Proverbs 11:30 says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. Who is going to witness to the lost? This is not about who gets the short end of the stick. This is not a roll of the dice. This is not “Abracadabra” and POOF! It happens. This is also not rocket science. If you call yourself a Christian…It is expected of you.

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Evangelism is a spiritual discipline in a Christian’s life. It is for all believers, not just a chosen few. Christians are supposed to incorporate witnessing into their daily walk with Christ.

Acts 1:8

We make excuses for not witnessing. Witnessing is not God tying a cement block around our neck and throwing us off the Golden Gate Bridge. Evangelism is the main goal of the church; however, the church is full of people that think evangelism and being servants were meant for someone else. It is this attitude that has caused personal evangelism to die down. A recent study found that 95% of people that call themselves Christians in the United States have never won anyone to Christ. 95%!

The United States is the fourth country with the largest population of non-Christians. Only China, India, and Indonesia are in front! The Mission Field is now our own backyard! When Tom Cruise was asked why he was a scientologist, he said that it was because they were the only ones who talked to him. Somebody probably missed a witnessing opportunity.Witnessing is not a choice.

Luke 5:1-11

Jesus is walking along the shore. He looks out into the water and sees the men trying to catch fish. He tells them to go out into the deep and cast their nets. They are probably thinking, “Who are you? You are an unemployed carpenter. You can’t even get a job and you are out here trying to tell us how to fish?”

John chapter 21 says that Jesus told them to throw their nets on the right side. I can picture them getting frustrated, “We have been out here all night, casting nets on the left side and the right side. Which side is the right side? Besides that, you don’t catch fish in deep water you catch them closer to the bank when they come up to eat the smaller fish, that’s when you catch fish.” But they went out anyway. They threw their nets in the deep water and caught so many fish that their nets were on the verge of breaking.What does this tell us? Jesus wants us to get away from the shore. He wants away from our comfort zone and away from things that we depend on and use as crutches. He wants us in the deep water because deep water is uncertain.

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You are either a Christian and living in the light or you’re not. It says here that if we confess our sins….let’s look at the word confession. Do we confess all our sins? Do we? Do you confess every time you have a bad thought? Do you confess ever time you doubt or worry? Do you confess every time you said something to somebody and it hurt their feelings? No.

What does this mean? Does it mean that when we sin that we walk in darkness and whenwe don’t we walk in light? Are we like a ping pong ball bouncing across the table? Light, dark. Light, dark. Light,dark. No. Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness. We confess our sins that we know about to free us from the guilt and condemnation that comes with knowing that we sinned against God.

What about the sins that we don’t realize we committed? The beautiful thing about Jesus cleansing us means that we are in a constant state of being cleansed. It is like the moment we are saved, we are stuck under a waterfall and we are constantly being cleansed. Now, this does not mean that you can sin and do whatever you want to. You are either saved and you strive to live the way we are called to live, or you are not and you constantly live in sin.

The Bible says that if you call yourself a Christian, yet continue to live in sin, and you never change then you must be a liar and you have never been saved. Maybe, we don’t have that close, intimate relationship with God that we ideally want. Is that even possible? David thought so.

Psalm 34:8

David’s relationship with God was so awesome that he wanted everyone to know how good God truly is.

Illustration…David would have shouted it from the rooftops, “O! Taste and see that the Lord is good!”

Maybe we say that we know that God is good. We know what the Bible says and we know what other people say but we don’t really know. Maybe we have so many voices talking to us that we don’t know which one is God and if we do know which one is God we don’t know what He is telling us to do.

What happens whenGod calls you to do something? Samuel was like that.

1 Samuel chapter 3.

All of Samuel’s prophecies came to pass. He was so wise and his relationship with God was so strong, that people realized that he had been called by God.

1 Corinthians 4:14-17

All of us are called by God. Here in these verses, Timothy being sent by Paul is actually more like Timothy is being dispatched by Paul. You are also dispatched. You are where you are at for a reason. You are dispatched to fulfill the Great Commission.You are dispatched to where you work, where you go to school, the mall, to your friends. You have been sent by God to carry out the Great Commission. Some of you could care less. Your heart is pounding and you know that God is calling you and wants you to live for Him but you will not release your white knuckle grip off of your life. You would rather take the chance to fight God. Hello? Who do you think is going to win that fight? Not you. God is GOD!

Stand.

God will not let you run forever. Surrender today and let God have His way in your life.